Exhibition
The Westminster Menswear Archive is exploring 100 years of British sportswear and its relationship with global fashion with this exhibition all about Umbro. The Manchester brand is celebrating its centenary this year and this display, featuring over 120 pieces, dives into the influence the brand has had on sportswear, particularly through its collaborations with the likes of Kim Jones, Paul Smith, Virgil Abloh, Supreme, Palace, Vetements, Aries, Christopher Raeburn and Aitor Throup (whose 2011 Archive Research Project has its own section in the show). You’ll also be able to see sportswear pieces created for rowing, boxing, athletics, basketball and hockey from 1936 to today, and replica football shirts for Manchester City, Manchester United, AFC Ajax, England and Scotland.
YINKA SHONIBARE CBE | SUSPENDED STATES
British-Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare has a major solo show – his first in London for over 20 years – on at Serpentine South Gallery. Suspended States explores the legacy of imperialism, the ecological impact of colonisation and the relationship of power to refuge by reimagining Western iconography. The show includes installations like ‘Decolonised Structures’, statues of colonial figures painted with Dutch wax print patterns; ‘Sanctuary City’, made of miniature buildings that represent places of refuge for the persecuted; and ‘The War Libraray’, where 5000 books covered in Dutch wax print represent conflicts and peace treaties.
GEORG BASELITZ | A CONFESSION OF MY SINS
German artist Georg Baselitz is hosting an exhibition at White Cube Bermondsey, his first at the gallery for eight years, featuring new work produced over the last year. At 86, Baselitz is still going strong and his new pieces, both large-scale paintings and works on paper, reflect on his 60-year-plus career, nodding to his key inspirations over the years and sketches he created in his youth.
Sir Quentin Blake, the renowned illustrator best-known for his work with Roald Dahl, is hosting his second commercial exhibition in a matter of months at the Arc Gallery at Cromwell Place. The QB Papers features work Quentin created between 2017-2019, much of which has never been seen before. And if you like what you see, you can actually purchase one of his original artworks.
TROPICAL MODERNISM | ARCHITECTURE AND INDEPENDENCE
The V&A is hosting a major architectural exhibition highlighting the style of Tropical Modernism by architects Jane Drew and Maxwell Fry from their work in the 1940s. The style, which focused on practicality over beauty in a hot and dry climate, developed in West Africa and came to symbolise a postcolonial future in countries like Ghana and India after they gained independence. The exhibition dives into the origins of Tropical Modernism along with its connection to colonisation, and how it spread representing progressiveness in a country.
LIKE A MELODY | MYTHS, MEMORIES AND FANTASY
To kick off NOW Gallery’s 10th-anniversary programme, British-Chinese artist Charlotte Mei is exhibiting at the space with Like A Melody: Myths, Memories and Fantasy. Drawing inspo from fantasy, mythology and anime, Charlotte is turning the gallery into an otherworldly realm filled with paintings, giant figurines and sculptures of ancient artefacts. The exhibition is an exploration of the power of escapism as a means of coping with life and processing our identity, as well as offering a reimagining of the fantasy genre through a non-European, feminine lens.
Photographer Kenneth Lam is hosting his first solo exhibition A seat at our table at SPACE Ilford, inviting audiences to explore the dishes and memories of their own cultural identities. Taking inspiration from classical still life and the the stories of Redbridge residents, Lam explores the table as a symbol of home and the way food can express heritage and be used as a common language between cultures.
POLLY BRADEN | LEAVING UKRAINE
Around six million Ukrainians are now displaced as a result of the Russian invasion of the country on 24th February 2024. Photographer Polly Braden has been documenting the lives of some of the women and children who have now been scattered across Europe and you can see her work at the Foundling Museum. Leaving Ukraine showcases the journeys that these women have had to undertake, the care they still have to provide for their families, the impact that the war has had on their lives and the way it is shaping their futures through photos, film and aural testimonies.
The Women By Women photography exhibit is returning to Central London for International Women’s Day. Produced by Action Aid UK, the exhibition will feature female refugees and the contribution they make to their communities along with the women who support them. The works of five female photographers from Poland, Uganda, Bangladesh, Colombia, and Turkey will be showcased at the Oxo Tower Ward and tell the stories of 21 female refugees.
AN IDEA OF A LIFE
Female artists Meera Shakti Osborne, Lesley Asare, and Sarina Mantle will be featured in An Idea of a Life exhibit at the Women’s Museum in March. The exhibit will showcase the history of communities led by the Abbess and nuns from c.666AD to the early 16th Century near Barking Abbey and will show their everyday history. It will also include objects excavated from the area that demonstrated how women were connected to significant historic places.
DAVID BOWIE - A LONDON DAY
As David Bowie was preparing to release his 18th studio album Black Tie White Noise, photographer Kevin Davies was commissioned to shoot promotional images for the record, and so he spent a day in December 1992 shooting Bowie in Clerkenwell. Once selected images had been approved for press use, all the films, contact sheets and prints went into storage, where they remained untouched until 2020. Now Davies is showcasing a selection of photographs taken on that day at the Fitzrovia Chapel with the David Bowie – A London Day exhibition. As well as depicting the musical icon in his prime, the images also serve as an exploration of the analogue photography process.
Step into the surreal and playful world of Chinese artist Rong Bao at the Saatchi Gallery. The RCA graduate’s debut exhibition Rong Bao Is Me is a showcase of her sculptural practice, where she transforms familiar objects into mischievous, sensorial and interactive artworks. Her installations stretch our perception of the physical and foster a sense of fun as a pushback against the norms of society.
THE ART OF BANKSY
The Art of Banksy first landed in London in the spring of 2021 after touring the world, popping up in cities from Melbourne to Miami, and following another international jaunt, it returned to the capital in 2023. After closing at the start of this year, the exhibition is on its way back for a third run, this time opening in a new space in Soho. The show is not authorised by the artist and therefore not curated in collaboration with him (not really Banksy’s style is it?) so all the pieces on show are loans from private collectors. In fact, the exhibition will display the world’s largest collection of official Banksy works from 1997 – 2008. This time around, over 150 pieces will be on show, including the iconic ‘Girl and Balloon’ ‘Flower Thrower’ and ‘Rude Copper’ as well as artworks from Dismaland, ones that reference the war in Ukraine and some going on public display for the first time.
BERT HARDY | PHOTOJOURNALISM IN WAR AND PEACE
The Photographers’ Gallery is looking back on the four-decades-long career of Bert Hardy this spring with this Photojournalism in War and Peace exhibition. This retrospective covers his work at Picture Post magazine, including his portrayal of post-war life in Britain and the way he revealed the social conditions and working-class lives of the time. His photographs taken during the Blitz, the liberation of Bergen-Belsen and the war in Southeast Asia will also be on show alongside archival material like press passes, diaries, and correspondence.
KEW ORCHID FESTIVAL
The annual orchid festival is back at Kew and this year’s theme is Madagascar, which, thanks to its incredible biodiversity, is home to some of the world’s rarest plant species. You can get a little taste of Madagascar’s varied landscapes and native wildlife across the different zones inside the Princess of Wales Conservatory. As well as an array of orchid displays, there’ll be a range of plant sculptures on show, including giraffe weevils and ring-tailed lemurs, and an exhibition of Malagasy photographer Tina Waibel’s work.
FLOW AT OUTERNET
See the history of Western art translated into dance with <FLOW> at Outernet. Created by design studio d’strict, <FLOW> moves from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance, Impressionism and beyond through the movement of digital ‘giants’ who gradually break out of their constraints and into freeform dance, showing how the world has transformed. As well as playing on Outernet’s floor-to-ceiling screens, the display is accompanied by a bespoke score from Australian composer Tristan Barton.
Zheng Bo is the latest artist to be given Somerset House’s courtyard commission and they’re turning the space into a bamboo garden. Bamboo as Method is an expression of Zheng’s eco-queer approach and looks to redistribute the power that humans are assumed to have over nature. Made of 300 locally sourced bamboo, the garden will give visitors a chance to disconnect from the hustle of normal life and immerse themselves in nature by spending time sketching one of the ten different species of bamboo. Biodegradable paper will be provided for the drawings, which will then be composted into the soil to fertilise the garden, to complete the cycle of creativity and ecology.
BARBARA KRUGER | THINKING OF YOU. I MEAN ME. I MEAN YOU.
American artist Barbara Kruger is getting her first institutional solo show in the capital for more than 20 years at Serpentine South, and her first time back showing at the gallery since 1994. Thinking of You. I Mean Me. I Mean You. will feature installations, moving image pieces and soundscapes, including some of her iconic works like ‘Untitled (I shop therefore I am)’ and ‘Untitled (Your body is a battleground)’ that have recently been reworked to incorporate video. As well as the works on show at Serpentine, you’ll also be able to see her pieces displayed on the screens at Outernet on Tottenham Court Road.